Apple Discontinues Production of AirPort Base Stations

Apple recently announced the end of production to its line of AirPort base stations including the AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express and AirPort Time Capsule. In a statement made highlighting the discontinuation of the product line, the company informed that it will continue selling the product until the products last.

The remaining products are available on the company’s website and its retail stores together with other stores that are authorized by Apple. Some of the most recommended uses for the Air Port Express from the line of AirPort base stations included playing music and sharing a device such as a printer wirelessly and it was perfect for student halls, flats and smaller homes.

AirPort Extreme, on the other hand, was good at sharing an external hard drive or a printer and was also capable of creating a large and high-speed network that was ideal for classrooms, larger homes and offices. It is known to work better with Wi-Fi enabled devices including iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC, iPod touch and more.

Then there is the AirPort Time Capsule that is a perfect automatic backup the Mac and is combined with 802.11 ac Wi-Fi that is ultra-fast. It is capable of wireless back up with OS X Leopard and also later versions. Most of the features of this device were similar to the earlier version with an addition of creating or expanding a high-speed network.

The rolling out of the products was intended at providing a wireless card for the MacBook with 802.11b Wi-Fi together with the router to better offer its services for the then growing broadband world. They were particularly good at offering high-speed device communication without the need of cabling through the home.

However, the end of supply doesn’t come as a surprise to many as a lot has been changed in home networking since the devices were first introduced some 20 years back. There is also a tough competition from a lot of companies including Google and Netgear that have come up with some pretty compelling offers for the users.

But the discontinuation of AirPort base station doesn’t mean that Apple will completely stay out of home networking as it focuses on Apple HomeKit strategy more than ever. In the meantime, Apple should continue its support for the users who are out to purchase the remaining stock.